STEP Training

MIT STEP offers a teacher licensing program that can be done entirely at MIT or in conjunction with courses at Wellesley College. This program licenses students to teach mathematics or science in grades 5-12. The Scheller Teacher Education Program, offered through the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, prepares MIT students to become teachers who are competent to teach in their field, willing to challenge established norms, able to bridge the boundaries among disciplines, and eager to help students develop the desire to question and explore. Click here for more info on STEP and here for more info on classes.

For Educators

STEP is actively engaged in many research and development projects, designing and testing new learning technologies for use in formal and informal education. While some projects are in limited testing with partners, others are freely available for all to try and to use (some complete with curriculum and assessment). Find out more about these projects on the projects page.

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Epidemics Unit

In the Epidemics curriculum, students use StarLogo TNG simulations to study and break down the complex nature of epidemics, to understand the role of humans in dealing with epidemics, and to analyze the costs and benefits of preventions and interventions. In addition to studying these scientific simulations, students will also learn to modify the simulations through simple TNG programming to perform their own experiments about epidemics. While the curriculum allows students to explore epidemics in the classroom, the activities connect the knowledge and skills students are gaining to the real world.

This curriculum of 5 lessons, each about 45 minutes long, was designed for middle school science teachers. However, these activities also provide a general introduction StarLogo TNG modeling and programming and highlight the value of simulation in modern science.

Epidemics are Expensive 1: In the real world, resources are limited and any response will have a cost. Students will explore simulations with different kinds of preventions/interventions and investigate the costs and benefits of each prevention/intervention.

In the first epidemics lesson, students examine a StarLogo TNG simulation where turtle agents are infected by a disease through contact with other infected turtle agents to determine what it means for a disease spread to become epidemic.